1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a variable data printing method, and in particular, it relates to a variable data printing method that automatically adjusts text colors based on variable contents.
2. Description of Related Art
Variable data printing (VDP) is a form of printing multiple pieces (often large numbers of pieces) where each piece contains a combination of form content (common to all of the pieces or a large subset of the pieces) and variable content (different for each piece, such as name and address). VDP are widely used to print personalized letters, direct marketing materials, billing statements, etc. Typically, a database or external file is used to provide the information for the variable content. Form content is also provided as external files or a database. For example, the variable data and form data may be provided in a PDF file.
When text is printed over a background, either a solid background color or a background image, it is desired to select a color of the text so that the text will be clearly visible over the background. Methods for adjusting text color in a document based on background are known. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,809,741, “A color contrast adjuster is disclosed that automatically selects and applies a new color combination for text and background based on the current color combination for the text and background, if the current color combination is a problem color combination. The text can be any text object (such as a hypertext link, bold text, underline text, groups of text etc.) and the background can be any background object whose color can be determined (such as a solid color, a button, a global interchange format file, etc.).” (Abstract.) In another example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0044686 describes “An image processing device having an image processing unit 10 that adjusts colors of the foreground image data that are approximately equal to a uniform color that makes the boundary between the foreground image data and the background image data recognizable to all the colors of the background image data that serves as the foreground image data's back ground, and synthesizes the foreground image data and the background image data.” (Abstract.)